The overarching objective is to build an ecosystem which is conducive for innovation and creativity for stakeholders with shared values, wean out rent-seeking tendencies / free-ride mindset, and generate as small a footprint as possible in negative externalities for the betterment of society. It serves to help in growing the overall economic pie for these stakeholders resulting in equitable distribution of surpluses back to same.

Expectation can be managed by scoping the program with concise objective and realistic milestones so that it could be completed within a short time frame. Each project can have up to 5 team members, each with complementary skill allowing the setup of an ecosystem engendering trust, paving the way for seamless cooperation and collaboration. It shall be structured along an “insurance” concept where the goal is to achieve sustainable collaboration / cooperation leading to value creation. The mission is to go beyond mere profit making and for stakeholders to be role models in the practice of sustainable value creation.

There are concerns that the trend of privatizing profits and socializing costs is the cause of the present rather unsatisfactory state of affairs in societies. Only stakeholders pre-disposed with the appropriate core values can align their interests as well as serving as a bulkhead against any potential negative externalities arising from poor governance and execution. It is fair to expect such stakeholders to give back to society in ways that can help in creating pathways towards sustainable value creation benefiting the society and future generations.

At the initial phase, the program will consist of a trilogy of projects with interlocking dependencies.

There will be an anchor project having an objective compatible with the trend of embracing smart city value proposition (Project 001).

The second project provides the connectivity by focusing on automation and leveraging on the cloud (Project 002).

The third leg will be utilizing the block chain technology by leveraging on its decentralized features, hence rendering the trilogy whole (Project 003).

Project 001 Specification

The project will be particularly relevant to stakeholders residing in smart cities by meeting their needs and or alleviating their pains. It should have broad-based potential demand. It will be a closed loop system where key metrics are well defined so that the processes can be measured and managed.

Project 002 Specification

The platform should ideally be ubiquitous and capable of leveraging on open source codes. There must already exist a vibrant community for stakeholders to tap upon and interact with. Stakeholders can upgrade their skills to remain relevant as well to be empowered to create sustainable value. Features under this component with cover Internet of things, installation of sensors to microcontrollers, remote event triggers when certain conditions are met. Data collection is another area of domain expertise that can be expanded upon.

Project 003 Specification

Stakeholders’ proactive engagement is crucial for the successful outcome of any project. Measuring and managing attributes such as core values, beliefs and behaviors are essential in balancing strategy and execution.  Reputation, credibility and predictability of outcomes are excellent avenue to focus on to nurture team members and leaders. Peer-to-peer network has the social network effect useful for democratization of abstract objects/concepts.

This can serve as an anchor towards better governance, leading to more efficient allocation of resources empowering individuals with the right work ethos to compete more equitably. Active engagements and real productivity improvements are the key takeaways. 

Some key issues to address in the coming posts will include the following:

• What are the critical success factors (CSFs)?
• What values/traits would be necessary of stakeholders to succeed as a team? honesty, competency, care and empathy? How can we track such metrics and correspond these to outcomes?
• Would a person high in honesty and competency but low in EQ be good or bad fit to the team?
• Would individual’s greediness be the Achilles’ heel hindering the success of the team? What form of greediness will it take? How does one counter it?
• Are individuals providing valuable assists be considered as valuable as the goal scorers?